Young people in East Yorkshire should be able to realise their dreams in the creative industry without venturing to London, says an Oscar-nominated film-maker and entrepreneur from Hull.

Chris Hees went from Holderness Road to Hollywood when we walked away with a BAFTA in 2015 and an Oscar nomination for his animated short film The Bigger Picture

The award was a realisation of a passion developed from childhood to put his creative talents onto the big screen and is writing a script for a feature movie about Hull icon Amy Johnson, with a budget of more than $10 million.

But he has now also turned his talents towards creating the next generation of filmmakers, collaborating with the BFI to host their annual film school in the 2017 City of Culture.

Students at the 2016 Hull BFI film academy

Mr Hees runs Bridge Way films, with offices based in both London and Hull city centre as he attempts to form a strong bridge between London’s film economy and the emerging talent on the banks of the Humber.

“We need to break the myth that it’s not a viable career opportunity in this area of the country,” he said. “I’ve worked in London but you shouldn’t have to and that’s why so much of our focus is in Hull.

“There’s a huge amount of talent here that I see when I work with people here, but the opportunity to enter the industry is incomparable to what you see in London and elsewhere. It’s important to inspire people and show them the opportunities, particularly on the back of this City of Culture year.

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“We have an office based above Kardomah94, but we have an ethos to bridge the gap between there and the film industry base in London.”

In order to help “bridge the gap” Chris began discussion with the BFI and in 2015 brought the first annual BFI training academy to Hull.

He said: “We are a production company for feature films and animation. We also help deliver training days and try to share our experiences in the hope that young people here can really benefit, and help them to drive their own careers.

BAFTA winner Chris Hees at Kardomah94

“I actually share my office with a company who work with the BFI and a couple of years ago we just talking about the possibility of bringing BFI training to Hull.

“They wanted to spread their reach across the country and being from Hull, I was really keen to help them launch it here. They were keen and now we are about start on our second year.

“People from Hull have made it in the industry and the aim of these classes is to make it really tangible for young people. We want to see young people gaining the skills and developing businesses themselves in the region, starting to form an industry here.

“I’ve always been learning by doing and we really want people to throw themselves into the deep end.”

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Students will struggle to find a young mentor in the city with quite as much technical knowledge and acclaim to help them forge the way in developing the region’s film industry.

Two years ago Chris won a BAFTA for his animated film and since garnered critical acclaim for his live-action short 'How I Didn’t Become a Piano Player' which between them were played at no less than 250 international film festivals.

Students at the 2016 Hull BFI film academy

His latest project highlights his passion for promoting Hull as completes a script for full-length feature on the life of avionic heroine Amy Johnson.

“Hull always comes up in projects. I’m doing this biopic of Amy Johnson which is planned to be a $10 to $20 million film. We’ve been working with the writers behind Vanity Fair, which featured Reese Witherspoon, and are pleased with the development.

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“There’s only a small team of us but we are very passionate about seeing the growth of creative industries in Hull. I’ve since worked with people I met as students on the BFI course so we are seeing a really strong and important progression.

“These are people with the desire to be filmmakers but need that professional guidance. We love giving that help to see them grow, and the area’s film industry with it.”

The deadline for the next BFI Academy for teenagers between 16 and 19 years of age is October 1 and applications must be made via www.vividecho.co.uk/bfifilmacademy/